While Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison was studiously careful not to endorse a presidential candidate in a recent Bulalat interview—endorsement being, after all, a validation of the very system that the CPP and its various arms would see consigned to the dustbin of history—I find it worth noting that, between front-runners Noynoy Aquino and Manny Villar, Sison thought Villar had a “relatively better”, if “underplayed”, program, and that Villar, because of said program and the people around him, would be more likely to enter into serious peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).
The assessment itself is nothing new, considering that the CPP, in a statement issued to mark its 41st anniversary last December, said Villar seemed to be “the most patriotic and progressive insofar as he advocates the interests of Filipino businessmen, expresses sympathy for the workers and peasants and condemns human rights violations”. Of course, the CPP has also derided Villar for his bureaucrat capitalism, for being “the biggest among [former President] Estrada’s stooges“—are these remarks that belong to the dustbin of history as well?
In any case, the statements of Sison are interesting to me for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that it unfailingly leads me to the question, “What program?”
Granted, there was that much-vaunted “mutual adoption” of platforms between the Nacionalista Party (NP) and the Makabayan coalition, but the resultant document was published in the NP web site only on February 20, several days after the official campaign period had started, and over two months after the same material was available on the Makabayan web site. Perhaps more importantly, can the document be found in Villar’s main campaign site? As of this writing, it cannot.
I wish to stress that, as I have pointed out elsewhere, Villar is utterly dismissive of platforms, and his dismissiveness is a matter of public record. In an interview with Ricky Carandang, he said, “Kasi yung mga plataporma, madaling sabihin ‘yan e. Pagagawa mo lang sa speechwriter mo ang mga plataporma mo, sasabihin mo ‘yan, me-memorize-in mo ‘yan, okay na.” Such a statement should strike no one as having come from a man who takes platforms in particular, and governance in general, with any gravity or sincerity.
This brings me to the second reason that I find Sison’s evaluation interesting: in claiming that Villar would be more amenable to negotiations with the NDFP—Aquino being supposedly surrounded by anti-communist and pseudo-progressive elements—Sison appears to have overlooked the fact that the NP is a former ally of, and is still friendly with, Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL), of which the honorary chairman is none other than former First Lady Imelda Marcos, the living half of the conjugal dictatorship that was once touted as the most effective recruiter for the CPP. Moreover, Villar and the Marcoses are on such good terms that they, along with the so-called solid North founded by the late dictator Ferdinand, will be voting for Villar.
Even if Sison later quibbles and says that he had, after all, been asked to pick between undesirable choices, his seeming willful blindness to the Marcosian specter and spectacle that is necessarily connected to the “relatively better” Villar, is disturbing.
Does Sison believe that delivering justice to a body politic that continues to suffer from the ravages of the Marcos regime is no longer the priority that it was? And what about the allegations of abuse against Villar himself—do not these matter? Has Sison yielded to the inevitability of a Villar-aided Marcos restoration? Or, as Business Mirror columnist Manuel Buencamino suggested some time ago, is the revolution indeed over?
Insofar as the concept of revolution implies the presence of a circle, closing with this quotation from Imelda Marcos may well be apropos: “My economic theory is that money was made round to go round. Money was made to encircle man so that he would blossom with many flowers. The whole trouble is, the center is money. All the heads of people thinking about money. All the hands of people reaching out for money. All their poor little bodies working for money. They are running in all directions for money.”
Popularity: 1% [?]
Liza Maza and Satur Ocampo are “Party-List Members of the House of Representatives,” defined under RA. 7941 as “Filipino citizens belonging to marginalized and under-represented sectors, organizations and parties, and who lack well-defined political constituencies.”
But if one or both of them win senatorial seats in the coming elections, then the “marginalized and under-represented” party they now officially represent in coalition with the Nationalista Party would become ineligible to continue claiming to be “marginalized and under-represented” and hence disqualified from participating under the Party-List System in future congressional elections and, perhaps, even in the forthcoming May 10 elections by fielding senatorial candidates.
For how can a group still claim to be “marginalized and under-represented,” or simply relegated to the fringes, if one or even two of its founding and still-active members seek election (or get to be elected) as Senators of the Land, an elite class of 24 trapos?
You mean like the genuine representatives of other PL’s?
Who cares what Joma says? He’s an irrelevant dinosaur.
And yet people still find time to bash him for being in Europe.
8s undrstndable 4 satur & company 2 side with Villar..both are BOGUS. in the 1986 people powr revolution, the loser was the cpp-npa. cla(komunista) ang nag-ani at cla ang nagbayo pero ang mga tao ang kumain. nang magkaroon ng demokrasya, parang asong-ulol na nawala sa picture ang mga komunista. kaya ayon, do’n nalang cla sa kung anu-anong gimik na rallies.. para at least..kumita. ideology? wala na yan. USSR, bumagsak na nga eh, & china, patungo na nga sa kapitalismo. yong paniniwala nila satur & liza eh, PASSE na yan. pera-pera na lang yan. how can u rconcile sa pagsa2ma nila satur (komunista) bongbong (anak ng martial law inventor) & Villar (alleged landgrabber), only in d pilipins.
I am just an ordinary observer…If Sison really likes Villar then I find a hidden agenda with it since Communist are known of their communist political strategy…And what is this hidden agenda? Correct me if I am wrong…it’s something like endorsing someone who will become another sick man to rule us appearing later on to be bad in the face of a democratic govt and in the end benefits the Communist Party politically? For the moment, it is always their aim for a coalition to this democratic govt…and when they are there, its just a short twist thereafter…remember, this communist does not count days, years or long…what counts is what they are doing for their party or their cause everyday…overt or covert. It is becoming obvious…Again, I am just worried as an ordinary man with a democratic principle.
Shortest tactical alliance you will ever see. Assuming Villar wins, the country will probably be better off economically under him than an Aquino win.
I heard the hidden agenda was P30m each for Satur, Liza and Joma. At least that’s what friends who were formerly with the NDF told me. P30m was also what was offered to Danny Lim (after the initial P10m) and the members of Magdalo. So, if true, that seems to be the going rate these days…
It seems Armando Liwanag has become Amado Dinero.
Yep, gotta agree with you on this one. The Left, stuck in political stasis and unable to move with speed and fluidity is forced into less than savory tactical alliances. The last great TA was with that Gloria bitch and ended with the 2004 crackdown.
“Gloria bitch”
May I respectfully request that we all refrain from this kind of language? Sayang naman if FV degenerates into gutter discourse. I would defend even GMA from this type of usage, which has no place in a public forum among educated people.
Thanks.
A person who calls himself a revolutionary; is now living in Amsterdam.
Eating “Godiva” Chocolates and wearing “Pierre Cadin” suits. The New People’s Army or National Defense Force has become an anachronistic ideology already. It has mutated into a “Mafia like” institution. With Revenues collected mostly on Protection Money from businesses and rich people. To align your classless ideology to the greatest Swindler in the Philippine political history is disgusting. I don’t have respect for these people. They are all Political Opportunists…
FERDINAND “BONGBONG” MARCOS, they must be joking. Pag nanalo iyan gagayahin niya tatay niya at hindi na aalis iyan. Bong Bong Marcos for president? Heaven forbid.
Gusto talaga ni Imelda na maging presidente Pilipinas si BongBong.
Kaya nga may anti-dynasty probisyon ang 1987 Constitution,
para anak ni GMA mapigilan sanang maging meyor o anak ni
Cory mapigilan sanang maging senador. Pero ano ang magagawa
mo, napakarami sa mga Pilipino ang pro-dynasty.
Kagaya mo, di ba, Mike H? Weren’t u for Bongbong too?
hello Pilipinas Pumili tayo ng mabuti at wag basta-basta lang wag din natin pagbasihan sa popularidad at mama at papa, saka kpg nagpaka abnoy tayo sa pagboboto lalaitin nanaman tayo sa ibang bansa, bakit mo naman ibobot yung pulitikong wala naman nagawang mabuti sa bansa, i mean kelangan natin pagbasihan yung Performance nila try natin magsearch , kasi masasayang lang ang boto natin, sa performance lang sakin kay Mar Roxas ako, Erap Binay Manny Villar at Gordon Bayani sa Senatorial Col. Querobin at Saludo Danny Lim Tito Sotto, Satur Ocampo,Miriam Depensor, Liza Maza,
saka wag din natin iboto yung mga pulitikong ginagamit yung kanilang kampanya para manira ng ibang presedensyabol, hinde naman nila kelangan gawin yun para tumaas sila sa Survey diba? guys
wag nalang kayo tumingin sa popularidad sa performance nalng guys
Like I said , the revolution is over.
Ipinagpalit ng kaliwa ang Rebolusyonrayong Daan para sa Daan Hari.
Ang Rebolusyonaryong Pananaw naging Vista Land.
Ang mga magkalaban sa class war naging classmates.
“Ang mga magkalaban sa class war naging classmates.” :D
“Ang mga magkalaban sa class war naging classmates.”
Perfect!
Jay, I forgot to mention: once again, another stellar piece — thanks.
Thank you, Lila.